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Everything You Need to Know About That New Year's Eve Song

We sing it every year after the ball drops, yet most people couldn't tell you its name or where it came from. Here is everything you need to know about "Auld Lang Syne," that song we sing on New Year's Eve. Make sure to turn up the volume! (Published Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2018)

A group of journalists will ring in the New Year in Times Square on Monday Night.

The Times Square Alliance announced that a group of journalists will be honored as the evening’s special guests.

NBC’s Lester Holt is on the list of established journalists set to take part in the evening’s festivities.

As the official special guests, the group will appear on stage with the Committee to Protect Journalists just before midnight to push the crystal button that signals the lowering of the New Year’s Eve Ball in Times Square in New York City.

Other news organizations participating in the event include The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN, CBS, TIME, The Wall Street Journal, ABC, Fox News and more.

“In one of the world’s most famous public squares, it is fitting to celebrate free press and free speech as we reflect on where we’ve been during the past year and what it is we value most as a society,” said Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 53 journalists were killed while on assignment in 2018. In June, five journalists were killed in the newsroom of the Capital Gazette in Maryland.

President Donald Trump has also scrutinized the news media, saying organizations like CNN and MSNBC don’t cover him fairly. Earlier this year, the White House revoked CNN’s Jim Acosta’s press credential following a heated argument during a press conference. A court eventually ruled the White House’s ruling was unconstitutional and his credential was reinstated.

“They are also representatives of all journalists in the United States, and around the world,” Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said of the journalists set to participate in the ball drop. “They work hard every day to keep their communities informed and hold the powerful to account. It’s the freedom to do this critical work that we celebrate.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists is an organization that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal.